King George Iii Would Feel Right At Home In Modern America

August 26, 1985|By Charley Reese of the Sentinel Staff

It wouldn't be stretching matters much to say that Americans have re- created the conditions against which our forefathers revolted. Let us examine some of the injuries and usurpations by King George III that the Declaration of Independence names as reasons for justifying severing relations with the king.

''He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.''

Substitute the Supreme Court for the king and you can make a good case, particularly on the issue of abortion, crime and prayer in the public schools. ''He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.''

The alphabet agencies of government that meddle in every aspect of our lives qualify on this count.

''He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our Laws.''

Here I would point to the United Nations, to the efforts of those Americans who wish to bind us to the jurisdiction of the World Court, to the specious arguments of some sophists that a treaty carries equal weight with the Constitution and to the wacko interpretations of the Constitution by some judges.

''For imposing taxes on us without our consent.''

I would argue that federal courts that force me into a single-member district where I may vote for only one out of five councilmen or commissioners is putting me in a position where I can be taxed without my consent.

''For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury.''

This is a blatant example because many matters such as civil rights laws and zoning violations are decided by administrative officers or boards.

''For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.''

Some federal judges have been guilty of this in particular instances, at least one going so far as to administer a state prison system.

There is no point in stretching this analogy beyond common sense, but we ought to remind ourselves that freedom, which was the cornerstone of the American Revolution, is no empty word. Freedom smothered to death by a well- intentioned paternalistic government is just as dead as if it had been axed by an arrogant king.

Nearly all man-perpetrated evil in this world is perpetrated in the name of a good cause or a worthy end. To be free, people must be free to make mistakes and to live imperfect lives. That's why utopians of either the left or the right are inevitably enemies of freedom. They will make us perfect even if they have to kill or enslave us to do it.

The immediate threats to American liberty do not wear military uniforms. They wear pin stripes or fashionable skirts. They have incredibly sincere faces and they carry briefcases. They are the Army of Compulsive Do-Gooders who intend to ferret out and remove even the smallest flaw in our society.

A free society, like a favorite uncle, is a flawed creation. In the short term, there are apt to be found injustices, absurdities, excesses, inefficiencies, instances of neglect, even cruelties. A believer in freedom, however, looks at the long haul. He has faith in people's ability to improve themselves morally and knows that a free society is the only kind that allows people to pursue moral progress.

A believer in freedom above all recognizes the flawed nature of man -- the capacity and even likelihood of all men sinning or falling short -- and so fears handing too much power to such imperfect creatures lest their power to do evil be magnified.

Indeed, as others such as author Paul Johnson have pointed out, that is exactly what has happened: As the power of the state has grown enormously, so, too, has its ability to do evil grown enormously.

Anyone who takes an honest look at the 20th century and retains a strong faith in government is a 24-karat blind-drunk optimist.